Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

William Boothby

First book in at least a decade focusing solely on the law governing the use of weapons

Comprehensive and detailed examination of the rules applicable to every category of weaponry

Clear and practical presentation of the issues, including the most controversial ones

Extensive annotations and referencing

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

William Boothby

Description

This book brings together the law of armed conflict governing the use of weapons into a single volume. It interprets these rules and discusses the factors influencing future developments in weapons law. After relating the historical evolution of weapons law, the book discusses the important customary principles that are the foundation of the subject, and gives a condensed account of the law that exists on the use of weapons. Thereafter, the treaties and customary rules applying to particular categories of weapon are stated and explained article by article and rule by rule in a series of chapters.

The legal review of weapons is also discussed, both from the perspective of how such reviews should be undertaken and how such a system should be established.
Having stated the law as it is, the book then discusses the way in which this dynamic field of international law develops in the light of various influences. In the final chapter, the prospects for future rule change are discussed.

The focus of this book is thus more specific and detailed than that of the more general texts on the law of armed conflict. Throughout this book, a conscious effort has been made to explain the law as it applies to all states. The book offers an accessible style of writing and a clear layout that promotes ease of reference.

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

William Boothby

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Components of the International Law of Weaponry3. The Evolution of the Law of Weaponry4. The Use of Weapons and the Law of Targeting5. Customary Principles - Superfluous Injury and Unnecessary Suffering6. Customary Principles - Indiscriminate Weapons7. Weapons and the Environment8. Conventional Weapons Convention9. Poison, Poisoned Weapons, Asphyxiating Gases, Biological and Chemical Weapons10. Firearms, Bullets and Analogous Projectiles11. The Rules Relating to Mines, Booby-traps and Other Devices12. Rules Relating to Other Specific Technologies13. Nuclear Weapons14. Applying Weapons Law to Particular Weapon Systems15. Cluster Munitions16. Weapons in Sea Warfare17. Unexploded and Abandoned Weapons18. Non-international Armed Conflict19. Compliance with International Weapons Law20. Technology, Humanitarian Concern and International Weapons Law21. The Future of Weapons Law

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

William Boothby

Author Information

Bill Boothby has served for 27 years as an officer in the Royal Air Force Legal Branch. After service in the United Kingdom, Germany, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Croatia, he developed a professional interest in public international law in general, and the law relating to weaponry in particular. He developed and implemented the British system for the legal review of new weapons, and formed and led the team charged with conducting such reviews. He was a member of the British delegation to the Oslo Conference which, in 1997, negotiated the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines. He was also from 2000 until 2006 a member of the UK Delegation to numerous Conventional Weapons Convention Conferences in Geneva, including the conferences that culminated in the adoption of Protocol
V to the Convention on Explosive Remnants of War. He undertook postgraduate study of the subject at Europa Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) in Germany and presented his thesis, on which this book is based, in 2008.

Weapons and the Law of Armed Conflict

William Boothby

From Our Blog

By Bill Boothby
During the ten years since an unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, was used to target Qaed Senyan al-Harthi in Yemen in 2002, attack of ground targets from unmanned platforms in the air has gone from a novelty to mainstream. The United States sees such technology as a vital element in its fight against international terrorism, and such military operations are routinely conducted from the airspace above Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere.